Dream-Land

By a route obscure and lonely, 
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT, 
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly 
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE—Out of TIME.

Bottomless vales and boundless floods, 
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods, 
With forms that no man can discover 
For the tears that drip all over; 
Mountains toppling evermore 
Into seas without a shore; 
Seas that restlessly aspire, 
Surging, unto skies of fire; 
Lakes that endlessly outspread 
Their lone waters—lone and dead,— 
Their still waters—still and chilly 
With the snows of the lolling lily.

By the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead,—
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily,—
By the mountains—near the river 
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever,— 
By the grey woods,—by the swamp 
Where the toad and the newt encamp,— 
By the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls,— 
By each spot the most unholy— 
In each nook most melancholy,— 
There the traveller meets, aghast, 
Sheeted Memories of the Past— 
Shrouded forms that start and sigh 
As they pass the wanderer by— 
White-robed forms of friends long given, 
In agony, to the Earth—and Heaven.

For the heart whose woes are legion 
’T is a peaceful, soothing region— 
For the spirit that walks in shadow 
’T is—oh, ’t is an Eldorado!
But the traveller, travelling through it, 
May not—dare not openly view it; 
Never its mysteries are exposed 
To the weak human eye unclosed; 
So wills its King, who hath forbid 
The uplifting of the fring'd lid; 
And thus the sad Soul that here passes 
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.

By a route obscure and lonely, 
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright, 
I have wandered home but newly 
From this ultimate dim Thule.

    Dream-Land was first published in 1849. The poem is roughly about someone moving through this dream-like land, with ghosts and dark angels. As they walk through, the landscape seems to be unusual. The speaker then comes across a friend, whom had been long dead. The conclusion for the speaker is that this place was good for him, and was able to address issues he had, in this dream-land. I interpreted this poem as Poe's view on the nature and culture around him seamlessly change as the world of technology grew. It was unsure when this poem was originally written, one can assume is was in the fast few years before his death. 

    The poem describes this dream with shoreless seas, fire filled sky, and overall just a different world. By the time it reaches the last two stanza, Poe had seen the new world around him. Specifically technologies such as the first American version of the electrical telegraph system, invented by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, and the overall changes in things such as transportation. Poe by the end of the poem, in stanza four and five, come to terms with this new dream-land. The land's mysteries being closed off to the eyes of culture, but to open themselves to the new world around them. The nations first railroad, in the death and home to Poe himself, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad became Poe's one way ticket to the future.